CHICAGO (Reuters) - Four out of every five sick U.S. children who
died after their parents put their trust in faith healing could
probably have survived if medical treatment had been sought,
according to a study published Monday.

The report, which examined 172 U.S. child deaths in faith healing
families from 1975 to 1995, concluded that 140 of the deaths, or
81 percent, were due to conditions that had a survival rate
exceeding 90 percent with treatment. In addition 18 more of
those who died would have had better than a 50 percent chance of
living with treatment, and all but three of the children would
have benefited in some way from medical help, the report said.

The study was done by the University of California at San Diego
and a Sioux City, Iowa, group called Children's Healthcare Is A
Legal Duty.

In one case cited in the report a two-year-old child choked on a
bite of banana and showed signs of life for nearly an hour while
her parents reacted by calling members of their religious circle
to pray. In another case the report described a 12-year-old girl
who was kept out of school for seven months while a tumor on her
leg grew to a circumference of 41 inches before her death.

The study was published in this month's issue of Pediatrics,
the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.